Matariki

 

Matariki represents the Maori New Year.  Matariki is a cluster of thousands of stars but only seven of the brightest stars can be seen by the naked eye.  If you look towards the north eastern sky at the end of May and throughout the month of June, you will be able to see the Matariki constellation. 

 

 

                                      

 

Many people celebrate Matariki and in different ways.  Room 4 celebrated the Maori New Year by making traditional Maori kites from toetoe and weaved nikau leaves and decorated them with sea shells and feathers.  Kites were used for many things like sending messages, entertainment, showing off skills and warning people of enemies coming.

 

We had heaps of fun making our kites.  These are some of our results.

 

 

By Dana Scott